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Biographies

A good biography invites you into someone else’s life. It takes you on fascinating journeys through the ups and downs of the life of legendary film stars, talented musicians, inspiring athletes, visionary politicians and many more. A good biography lets you get under the skin of your biggest idols, and you feel collected when reading their story - maybe even in the form of their own words. You will find both biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ selection, in addition to diaries and memoirs. So are you ready to be inspired by some of the world’'s most extraordinary individuals?
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  • Save 23%
    by Rob Copeland
    £16.99

  • Save 15%
    by Leander Kahney
    £10.99

    Brought to you by Penguin.An intimate look at the legendary British designer behind Apple's most iconic products - including the Apple WatchWith the death of Steve Jobs in 2011, JONY IVE has become the most important person at Apple. Some would argue he always was.Steve Jobs discovered Ive in 1997, when he found the scruffy British designer toiling away in a studio surrounded by hundreds of sketches and prototypes. Jobs instantly realised he had found a talent who could reverse Apple's decline, and become his 'spiritual partner'.Their collaboration produced iconic products including the iMac, iPod, iPad and iPhone. Designs that overturned entire industries and created the world's most powerful brand.Little has been known about this shy, softly-spoken designer. Until now. Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products tells the riveting story of a creative genius, from his early interest in industrial design to his meteoric rise, as well as the principles and practices that led Ive to become the designer of his generation.'Sheds new light on technology's most-watched design team' Observer'A real pleasure' GQ(c) Leander Kahney 2015 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

  • Save 20%
    by Lauren Cochrane
    £11.99

    With this beautiful guide to his style trajectory, key looks and signature pieces, dive into the kooky, eccentric and utterly unique world of Harry Styles's style.

  • Save 14%
    by Dolly Alderton
    £9.49

  • by Alan D Thompson & Amy Hardison
    £16.99

  • Save 21%
    by The RZA
    £13.49

  • Save 14%
    by Henry Marsh
    £9.49

  • by Tove Jansson
    £9.49 - 11.49

    Tove Jansson's most personal book and a homage by two artists to the island they loved. In her late-forties, Tove Jansson, helped by a maverick seaman called Brunstrom, raced to build a cabin on an almost barren outcrop of rock in the Gulf of Finland. The island was Klovharun, and for twenty-six summers Tove and her life partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietila, retreated there to live, paint and write, energised by the solitude and shifting seascapes. Notes from an Island, published in English for the first time, is both a memoir and homage to the island the two women loved intensely and relinquished only when pressed by age. It is also a unique collaboration between two artists. Tove's spare, precise prose - diary entries, vignettes and extracts from Brunstrom's log - frame the subtle washes and aquatints created by Tuulikki. Together they form a work of meditative beauty.

  • Save 20%
    by Guillem Balague
    £11.99

  • Save 25%
    by Nadia Caterina Munno
    £19.49

    TikTok sensation and beloved home cook Nadia Caterina Munno, a.k.a. The Pasta Queen, presents a cookbook featuring the signature pasta tips and tricks that are 100% authentic to Italian traditions-and just as gorgeous as you are.

  • Save 14%
    by Bill Browder
    £9.49

  • Save 10%
    by Ernesto Che Guevara
    £8.99

    'A Latin American James Dean or Jack Kerouac' Washington Post'It's true; Marxists just wanna have fun... a revolutionary bestseller' GuardianAt the age of twenty-three, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado set out from their native Argentina to explore their continent, with only a single 1939 Norton motorcycle to carry them, nicknamed La Poderosa ('the powerful one'). They travelled not to visit the usual tourist attractions, but to meet ordinary people and understand Latin American life. In amidst the tales of youthful adventures - of women, wine, thrilling escapes and the power of friendship - the young Che also learns first-hand about poverty, philosophy and philosophy and forms himself into the man who would become the world's most famous and admired revolutionary and freedom fighter. 'For every comic escapade of the carefree roustabout there is an equally eye-opening moment in the development of the future revolutionary leader. By the end of the journey, a politicized Guevara has emerged to predict his own legendary future' Time

  • Save 15%
    by Gyles Brandreth
    £10.99

  • Save 10%
    by Raven Smith
    £8.99 - 11.99

    Following on from his critical smash and SUNDAY TIMES BEST-SELLING debut, Raven Smith's Trivial Pursuits, Raven is back with a pin sharp, hilarious and incisive exploration of what it means to be a man in the modern day.

  • Save 10%
    - My Life, My Truth - The International Bestseller
    by Marco Van Basten
    £8.99

    The autobiography of the most 'complete' strikers in football history.

  • Save 15%
    by Ranulph Fiennes
    £10.99

  • - A Life in Computer Games
    by Sid Meier
    £12.49 - 19.49

    The life and career of the legendary developer celebrated as the "godfather of computer gaming" and creator of Civilization.

  • Save 13%
    - The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece
    by Joel Selvin & Dave Mustaine
    £12.99 - 20.49

    The inside story of the making of the speed metal masterpiece Rust in Peace by the lead vocalist and guitarist of Megadeth, the original lead guitarist of Metallica, and the author of the NYT bestseller, Mustaine

  • Save 15%
    - How The Bomber Boys Broke Down the Nazi War Machine
    by Donald L. Miller
    £10.99

    Seconds after Brady s plane was hit, the Hundredth s entire formation was broken up and scattered by swarms of single-engine planes, and by rockets launched by twin-engine planes that flew parallel Meet the Flying Fortresses of the American Eighth Air Force, Britain s Lancaster comrades, who helped to bring down the NazisHistorian and World War II expert Donald Miller brings us the story of the bomber boys who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. Unlike ground soldiers they slept on clean beds, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of the travelling Air Force bands. But they were also an elite group of fighters who put their lives on the line in the most dangerous role of all.Miller takes readers from the adrenaline filled battles in the sky, to the airbases across England, the German prison camps, and onto the ground to understand the devastation faced by civilians.Drawn from interviews, oral histories, and American, British and German archives, Masters of the Air is the authoritative, deeply moving and important account of the world's first and only bomber war.

  • Save 15%
    by Marcus J. Moore
    £10.99 - 18.99

  • Save 15%
    by Virginie Despentes
    £10.99

    Drawing from personal experience, Despentes shatters received ideas about rape and prostitution,and explodes common attitudes about sex and gender. KING KONG THEORY is a manifesto for a new punk feminism,reissued here in a brilliant new translation by Frank Wynne.

  • Save 10%
    - The Perfect Christmas Gift for any Motorsport Fan
    by Tai Woffinden
    £8.99 - 13.49

    Double Speedway World Champion and former captain of the Great British speedway team, Tai Woffinden is one of the sport's biggest stars.

  • Save 14%
    - The Power of Our Immune System and the Mind-Body Connection
    by Dr Jeff Rediger
    £9.49

  • Save 14%
    by Rachel Carson
    £9.49

    The breathtaking first volume in Rachel Carson's classic and New York Times bestselling trilogy, about the history of the oceans, introduced by Margaret Atwood

  • - Erinnerungen eines Europaers - Das goldene Zeitalter der Sicherheit
    by Stefan Zweig
    £8.49

  • Save 15%
    by Bonnie Tsui
    £10.99

  • Save 14%
    - Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy
    by Ben Macintyre
    £9.49 - 18.99

  • Save 10%
    - one boy's voice from the silence of autism
    by Naoki Higashida
    £8.99 - 9.49

    The No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.Written by Naoki Higashida when he was only thirteen, this remarkable book provides a rare insight into the often baffling behaviour of autistic children. Using a question and answer format, Naoki explains things like why he talks loudly or repeats the same questions, what causes him to have panic attacks, and why he likes to jump. He also shows the way he thinks and feels about his world - other people, nature, time and beauty, and himself. Abundantly proving that people with autism do possess imagination, humour and empathy, he also makes clear how badly they need our compassion, patience and understanding.David Mitchell and his wife have translated Naoki's book so that it might help others dealing with autism and generally illuminate a little-understood condition. It gives us an exceptional chance to enter the mind of another and see the world from a strange and fascinating perspective.The book also features eleven original illustrations, inspired by Naoki's words, by the artistic duo Kai and Sunny.

  • Save 14%
    by Chanel Miller
    £9.49

  • - Festive hospital diaries from the author of million-copy hit This is Going to Hurt
    by Adam Kay
    £7.99 - 8.99

    From the multi-award-winning and million-copy bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt, comes Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, a brand new gift book that alternates between the hilarious and the heartbreaking, in a love letter to all those who spend their festive season on the front line.

Biographies
Biographies books are per definition a collection of someone’s life. That someone is mostly a celebrity and often comes from the world of entertainment for example a famous movie or television star. A good biography lets you under the skin of the subject. Biographies are mostly written by biography authors, who are specialized in capturing the life of another person through research and multiple interviews with both the individual and his or her relatives. The celebrity or icon can also choose to write his or her own story, which is what characterizes an autobiography. An autobiography can - if the writer is good - give you a more intimate picture of the subject. You can both find biographies and autobiographies in Tales’ wide selection of Biographies. 

Biographies best sellers
Tales’ selection contains most of the biographies best sellers. The biographies books are often about celebrities known from film, television or the music industry, but they can also be about inspiring trailblazers from the societal or political world like the biography best seller Becoming about Michelle Obama. The American first lady has inspired many Americans and people around the world. Her and her husband - the first black American first lady and President - made many extraordinary changes in the American society and advocated for more diversity and respect in the American people. Michelle Obama also fights for more equality, especially when it comes to girls and women. Read the inspiring story of how Michelle Obama became one of our times most popular, kind and obliging residents of the White House in her biography Becoming, and let it guide you to finding our own voice. 
Another best seller is Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. Taddeo has written an innovative biography that is a collection of three American women's lives. The biography is an investigation of the female lust in all its complexity. Many women have expressed that they can reflect their own life and feelings of desire in the book. 

Biographies about musicians
Take a look in our selection and find some of the best biographies about musicians. The selection has something for every taste, because you find accounts about musicians from every end of the spectre. Whether you like rock, jazz, classical music, pop or musicals you will find biographies about musicians representing every genre. 
Take for example the autobiography Me Elton John, who has gained extraordinary reviews and success all around the world making the Elton John biography an international best seller. The book is the only official biography made about the iconic musician and singer. Read the incredible and turbulent story about one of our biggest stars to date, and you might learn the secrets behind writing and performing hit after hit.
You can also dive into the fascinating story of the musical legend Julie Andrews. In the biography Home you can read about her journey from London to Broadway stardom. The triple threat is the woman behind legendary roles such as Mary Poppins and Maria from The Sound of Music, and you can follow her journey through Hollywood in the sequel Home Work. Julie Andrews is the writer of her own story and she writes in an intimate and heart-warming narrative. 

Biographies about artists
Are you an art lover, art student or an artist yourself? Then we would recommend you to find inspiration in our biographies about artists. Our collection of biographies contains among others the book Frida Kahlo - A Biography written by Claudia Schaefer. Schaefer gives an introduction to the beloved Latino artist. Frida Kahlo is one of modern times greatest female artists and her surrealist artworks are extraordinary. The biography introduces the reader to her unique form of art - Kahlo did not see herself as a surrealist - but it also gives a look into the artist behind the world famous works of art. If you want to dive into the lives of amazing artists, the story of Kahlo is just one of many wonderful biographies about artists. 

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